Behold the Bird in Flight: A Novel of an Abducted Queen [Paperback]

For fans of Maggie O’Farrell, a coming-of-age story and a royal love triangle marked by danger and longing, based on real events in medieval France and England.

Romantic and stubborn, eleven-year-old Isi plans to marry for love and be mistress of her own castle. But life in 1198 is full of threat and a series of tragic events teaches her growing up is hard.

When Isi falls for Hugh, a French nobleman, he consents to marry her, but only for her dowry. She longs for more. Hoping a jealous man will fall in love, she flirts with a king. The flirtation backfires: King John abducts and marries her. Now trapped in cold, warring England with a malicious husband, Isi must hide her yearning for Hugh and find her own power. If she fails, she won’t live to return to her beloved.

Inspired by real historical figures—Isabelle d’Angoulême, Hugh de Lusignan, and King John of Magna Carta fame—Behold the Bird in Flightis set in a period that valued women only for their dowries and childbearing. Isabelle’s story has been mainly erased by men, but the medieval chronicles suggest a woman who developed her own power and wielded it. And as the woman behind the throne, who’s to say she didn’t influence history?Terri Lewishad a career as a ballet dancer in Denver and Germany, ran a dance company in Arkansas, and earned degrees in history and theater—not necessarily in that order—before becoming an author. She has been accepted to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and into workshops with Laura van den Berg, Jill McCorkle, and Rebecca Makkai; her debut novel,Behold the Bird in Flight, was published in 2025. Her novella When They Came Homewon the Miami University Press Novella Award in 2025. Terri lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and two lively dogs.Listed in Washington Independent Review of Books’ “51 Favorite Books of 2025&rdló‚